STOCK MARKET UPDATE: 19.04.2012

Stock

Karachi Stocks Up 173.73 Points:
KARACHI, Apr 18: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 13937.95, up 173.73 points.

April 18, 2012

 5 TOP GAINERS  &  LOOSERS:

UniLever Pak Ltd	Rs 95.15	Indus Dyeing	Rs (20.24)
Nestle Pakistan	Rs 53.79	Rafhan Maize	Rs (17.86)
Pak Oilfields	Rs 7.49	Sitara Chemical	Rs (4.88)
Millat Tractors	Rs 5.95	Jubilee Gen. Ins	Rs (2.79)
Lucky Cement Ltd	Rs 5.48	National Refinery	Rs (2.64)

Karachi Stocks stage spectacular rally of 173 points & pick up on earnings hopes

KARACHI, April 18: After taking a breather for two days, bulls began their charge yet again on Wednesday tossing the KSE 100-index up by 173.73 points to close short of the 14,000 level, at 13,937.95 points.

Cement stocks were in the forefront with the first three volume leaders, Fauji Cement, Lafarge and D.G. Khan accounting for 30 per cent of the day’s volume of 262 million shares.
Samar Iqbal, equity dealer at Topline Securities, said that market saw across the board rally, in anticipation of Capital Gains Tax Ordinance, likely to be signed at the weekend. Overall there was not much to be cherished in the news flow.
The frenzied buying by local individuals and institutions masked the depressing news such as the decline of net foreign investment in the country by 65 per cent to $516 million in first nine months of this fiscal year. The SBP was said to have blamed energy crisis, unclear economic policies and a serious law and order situation for the foreigners’ nervousness over investment in the country.
The government borrowing also at record Rs1 trillion and country was likely to miss wheat production target of 25 million were already factored into the share prices.
Analysts at KASB Securities observe: “As the market turns volatile on conflicting news regarding the SRO on CGT issue, the next excitement leg at KSE could be triggered by results and budget related news. However a key upside risk to watch is geo political developments.”
An agreement on restoring NATO supply routes could unlock pending sovereign flows and help sooth investor concerns on the rupee. The same combined with increased visibility for Pakistan could result in foreign portfolio investment flows gaining momentum.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp stated that stocks closed bullish with investor interest fuelled by strong earnings outlook in the current reporting season. Bullish activity in Asian stocks after IMF statement of global growth slowly improving and higher global commodities played a catalyst role in bullish sentiments despite concerns for delay in implementation of revised CGT regime.
Also expectations of settlement of Pak-US ties and hike in local power tariff due to tone down of circular debt concerns in the country affected the sentiments.
The KSE-30 index also rose in concert by 177.55 points to 12,206.05. Market Capitalisation increased by Rs46bn to Rs3,576bn, from Rs3,530bn.
Advancing shares were 207, more than twice the receding shares at 88, with 77 stocks remaining unchanged in a total of 366 active issues.
The biggest gainer for the day was UniLever Pak, rose Rs95.15 to Rs5,833.60 followed by Nestle Pakistan, up by Rs53.79 to Rs4,379.85. The major losers were led by Indus Dyeing down by Rs20.24 to Rs384.61 and Rafhan Maize falling by Rs17.86 to Rs2590.50.
The active list was led by Fauji Cement, down by one paisa to Rs7.10 on 32m shares followed by Lafarge Pakistan, up 33 paisa to Rs5.44 on 25m shares and D.G. Khan Cement closing at its upper-circuit adding Rs1.89 to Rs41.41 on 23m shares.
Jahangir Siddiqui Company also up by Re1 to Rs17.84 on 19m shares and Azgard Nine also hit upper circuit of Re1 to Rs9.49 on 18m shares. National Bank made substantial gain of Rs1.84 on 13m shares, Bank of Punjab rose 94 paisa to Rs9.55 on 12m shares, JS Bank added 83 paisa to Rs6.14 on 9m shares, Nishat Mills gained Rs1.85 to Rs58.65 on 7m shares and Dewan Cement edged higher by 5 paisa to Rs6.10 on 6m shares.

ANNOUCEMENTS/COMPANY NEWS:

1. DG Khan Cement reports higher profit: KARACHI: D G Khan Cement Company Ltd has reported a higher profit after tax of Rs 2.071 billion during nine months ending March 31, 2012.According to financial results sent to KSE here Wednesday, the pre-tax profit of the company surged to Rs 2.775 billion during the period under review compared to Rs 423.448 million in the same period last year.
The earning per share also improved to Rs 4.73 compared to Rs 0.40 in 2011.

MOHAMMED SALEEM MANSOORI